Weekend Box-Office: ‘Transformers 3’ Scores $97.4 Million, Setting July 4th Weekend Record

We still don’t have our first $100 million opening weekend earner, something I am sure Warner Bros. is happy about as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is virtually assured to become the first once it hits theaters in a couple weeks. But let’s not look too far forward. Let’s break this weekend down so we can get on with our extended July 4th weekend.
Laremy predicted the #1 movie correctly 9 Weeks In A Row
I know everyone is going to slam Pixar for making Cars 2 and with it they will point fingers at what is a massive second weekend drop (62%), but I still say it is a perfectly enjoyable film and somehow that’s been lost in all the criticism that was generated before the film was ever released. Yes, it is now likely to be the first Pixar release since A Bug’s Life in 1998 to not cross the $200 million mark, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad film, just disappointing business wise. Am I making excuses? Yes, but only to the extent I felt is needed to combat the negativity… much of it by people I assume never even went to see it.
Result: $25.1 million

Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #2 with $37.036 million, which is $11.936m off for a 47.55% error.
A 55% drop for the comedy, which is a bit larger than I suspected when looking at Friday’s numbers, but more along the lines of what I would have expected going into the weekend considering this wasn’t a film I imagined would enjoy very good word of mouth. Yet, with a reported $20 million budget, the film has now grossed almost $60 million. I’m sure the Sony brass is happy with that and I have to wonder, will we get Bad Guidance Counselor in a year or so?
Result: $14.1 million

Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #3 with $14.537 million, which is $0.437m off for a 3.1% error.
The last time Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts teamed up was Charlie Wilson’s War, a film that is easily much better than Larry Crowne, and yet, the $13 million earned this weekend from Crowne is $3.4 million than Charlie Wilson opened with back in 2007. However, I think both films didn’t connect for different reasons, Crowne, I think, buried itself all on its own with trailers that just couldn’t dupe audiences into theaters. This just isn’t a good movie and sometimes a studio can’t hide that as much as they wish they could.

As far as predictions go, Laremy undershot it a bit, but commenter Ron was on the money again, this time with a solid $12.9 million prediction.

Result: $13 million

Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #4 with $11 million, which is $2m off for a 15.38% error.
I have nothing really to say about this film. I know nothing about it so how can I comment? It did take a look at Selena Gomez’s last film, Ramona and Beezus, which opened at $7.8 million, which tells me the exact same people went to see this one.
Result: $7.6 million

Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #8 with $6 million, which is $1.6m off for a 21.05% error.
Super 8 is now one of 15 of 2011’s releases to cross the $100 million mark on a reported $50 million budget. Bridesmaids is the only film with a lower budget ($32.5 million) to cross the century mark.
Result: $7.5 million

Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #5 with $8.419 million, which is $0.919m off for a 12.25% error.
Dropping 65% for the second weekend in a row, I still don’t see how Warner Bros. can justify a sequel to this film at this point. Sure, it crossed the $100 million mark, but considering it cost $200 to make and another $100 million to market worldwide this is a rather large loss for the WB.
Result: $6.2 million

Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #6 with $7.571 million, which is $1.371m off for a 22.11% error.
The fact this is still in the top ten just baffles me… I guess Americans like penguin poop, and lots of it, more than I will ever know.
Result: $5.1 million

Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #7 with $6.392 million, which is $1.292m off for a 25.33% error.
Bridesmaids is now the highest grossing Judd Apatow produced or directed film ever. It is now over the $152 million mark and prior to that Knocked Up and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby were both just over $148 million domestic releases.
Result: $3.5 million

Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #10 with $2.929 million, which is $0.571m off for a 16.31% error.
I saw at least one person giving Laremy a hard time for including Woody Allen’s latest in the top ten after it was edged out by Kung Fu Panda 2 last weekend, but it proved to a be a smart move as Midnight in Paris dipped only 17.6% from last weekend bringing the film’s domestic total to $33.6 million. It managed to do this while losing 93 theaters from last weekend. Not too bad I’d say.
Result: $3.4 million

Laremy’s rank: Laremy picked it to finish #9 with $3.336 million, which is $0.064m off for a 1.88% error.

In other box-office news, Pirates of the Caribben: On Stranger Tides is now the fourth film from Disney (third in the last 18 months) to cross the $1 billion mark globally alongside Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Toy Story 3 and Alice in Wonderland. It is the eighth film ever to accomplish this feat, it crossed the $500 million mark in a record-setting 14 days and is Disney’s biggest international release ever. Sounds to me like Captain Jack Sparrow will be sailing again, and soon if the Mouse House has anything to say about it.

Now we can look forward to next weekend… How much will Transformers 3 drop? How will it compare to next weekend’s comedy releases Zookeeper and Horrible Bosses?

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